I am a Tombstone Tourist: someone who loves to wander cemeteries. I find it akin to visiting a museum: an opportunity to enjoy rarely seen sculpture, intricate carvings, and amazing architecture, all in a tranquil outdoor setting. This blog is about cemetery culture, art, history, issues of death, and genealogy - subjects of current relevance. I usually find something that intrigues me and makes me want to dig deeper. Care to join me? Read on...

Friday, September 25, 2015

Cemetery
poetry may be an odd concept for mainstay readers, but for those of us who are
“tombstone tourists,” this genre offers a refreshing look into our clandestine indulgences
and interests.

Next Door To The Dead is Kathleen Driskell’s
latest book; one I found to be irresistible. It takes an understanding of the taboos
associated with writing about death, along with true empathy and respect for
those living and dead to write poems brimming with thoughtfulness, heartbreak
and humor. Driskell introduces us to her “neighbors” in a very matter-of-fact way
because after 20 years of living next door to the cemetery, they are indeed the neighbors
she’s gotten to know.

Driskell
does what many of us do, wanders the cemetery in search of solace, solitude, and
stories that may or may not be true, but her offerings tug at our heartstrings
just the same. The poem Infant Girl
Smithfield leaves the reader aching to comfort a stillborn child while the
waiting tension in What Haunts is
something most of us have felt when viewing the desecration cemetery vandals have left behind.

We listen
in to Tchaenhotep, an Egyptian mummy whose every-day existence was thwarted in death by an odd fame; she is now on display
in a local museum.

In Lament for the Crow, Driskell bids us to pause beside
her, considering the demise of a crow and the affect it has among his resident flock.

The
author is an expert at unraveling the secrets and stories buried in
the local graveyard, and by invoking the voices of the dead, she
shares her personal folklore about them in
prose that will return to haunt you as you meander through a graveyard.

Next Door To The Dead will entice those who have no interest in cemeteries to hesitantly tag along,
and in the process, captivate their imaginations. Taphophiles will find the fact
that Driscoll can put into words those thoughts we’ve all had while
searching and reflecting in a quiet cemetery, extraordinary. And most tombstone tourists will agree, that is both enlightening, and enchanting.

~ Joy

About the Author:

Kathleen Driskell

Kathleen
Driskell is
associate editor of the Louisville Review and professor of creative
writing at Spalding University, where she also helps direct the low-residency
MFA in Writing program. She is the author of numerous books and collections,
including Laughing Sickness and Seed across Snow.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Today
marks the fourteenth anniversary of the terrorists attacks on the United States
– September 11, 2001.On that day, our
lives, indeed our world, changed in ways we could never foresee.

One
way we Americans have commemorated the day is with the 9/11 Memorial. Completed in 2011, the
memorial is one of the largest in the world.

The
purpose of the memorial is to commemorate the lives of the 2,977 who died on
that September day: at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in
Washington D.C., and aboard commercial airliner Flight 93 that crashed in a
Pennsylvania field killing all on board.

9/11 Memorial

The
memorial is made up of a museum, performing arts center, and a park with two pools and the largest man-made waterfall in the world.

Inside Founders Hall

Museum
exhibits are divided into three categories: the events leading up to September 11th,
an in-depth look at the actual day from historical,
memorial and physical perspectives, and the aftermath including immediate rescue and recovery, and now, how our world has been forever changed.

But
another aspect of the 9/11 Memorial is to also remind us to step forward and
volunteer. We can do so by honoring first responders, memorializing those who were
killed, educating children on the events that happened on that day. Or in a broader scope by showing appreciation to our troops, sponsoring a
tribute to local EMTs, honoring search and rescue dogs for their service
to the community; donating time at a shelter, nursing home, or at a local
park or cemetery. There is always something we can do to give back and say “Thank
You” for sacrifices made.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Although
the moon is estimated to be 400 billion years old, man’s fascination with it
has never waned. Down through the ages, we have worshipped the moon, given it human
attributes, created folklore around it, and given it a different name for each
month of the year.

Moon Phases

The
moon passes through eight phases each month and has numerous stories and
folklore connected to each phase. Our ancestors used the moon phases as a guide
for planting, and many farmers still do today.

The New Moon and first
quarter, or waxing phases, are considered fertile and wet.

The new and
first-quarter phases, known as the light of the Moon, are considered good
for planting above-ground crops, putting down sod, grafting trees, and
transplanting.

From full Moon through
the last quarter, or the dark of the Moon, is the best time for killing
weeds, thinning, pruning, mowing, cutting timber, and planting
below-ground crops.

The time just before
the full Moon is considered particularly wet, and is best for planting
during drought conditions.

The Moon also affects
our weather and our emotions.

The
Chinese believed that instead of one moon there were twelve, one for each
month so each was given a different name.

The
Native Americans also had different names for each month based on the seasons.
Today, these full Moon names include:

January
= Wolf Moon (Wolves are hungry and go in search of food now)

February
= Snow Moon (Heaviest snows happen during this month)

March
= Worm Moon (The ground thaws and earthworms return)

April
= Pink Moon (Wild flowers begin to bloom)

May
= Flower Moon (Flowers are now abundant)

June
= Strawberry Moon (Strawberries are ripe)

July =
Thunder Moon (Thunderstorms are frequent)

August
= Grain Moon (Grain is becoming ripe)

September
= Harvest Moon (Farmers harvest later by moonlight)

October
= Hunter’s Moon (Wild game is getting ready for winter)

November =
Frosty Moon (Frost is now a common occurrence)

December
= Long Nights Moon (These are the longest nights of the year)

Most
religions and traditional festivals are scheduled to occur during certain
phases of the Moon.

Man’s Interaction with the Moon

Galileo Galilei

In
1609, Galileo Galilei was the first person to use a telescope to look at the
moon. With 20-fold magnification, he saw valleys, hills and seas.

Luna One

It
wasn’t until 350 years later, on January 2, 1959, that the Soviet Union
launched Luna 1 and man made his first fly-by, only to discover that the Moon didn't have a magnetic field.

On
February 3, 1966, the Soviets landed Luna 9 on the Moon’s surface. Although
this was sixth spacecraft the Soviet Union had sent to the Moon, it was the
first to actually land on the surface.

Then,
just three years later, the United States not only landed Apollo 11 on the Moon, but on July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong made “one small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind” as he set foot on the Moon’s surface.

Most
recently on December 11, 1972, Gene Cernan walked on the Moon as part of the
Apollo 17 mission.

Moon Folklore

Several
ancient cultures worshiped the Moon and a Moon Goddess connected with birth and reproduction.

The
Chinese believed that Chang’e, their Moon Goddess, had only one companion living
with her on the Moon, the Jade Rabbit. The Moon
Rabbit can be seen pounding the elixir of life for Chang'e with a mortar and
pedestal. Interestingly enough, Buddhists, Aztecs and Native Americans also
handed down a version of this myth.

In
the Northern Hemisphere, the Man in the Moon is seen as a human face in the
full moon.

Thanks
to poet English John Heywood, for centuries people thought that the Moon was
made of green cheese -"Ye set
circumquaques to make me beleue/ Or thinke, that the moone is made of gréene
chéese."

It
is also believed that the moon can affect your emotions. It has been
rumored that a full Moon can lead people into madness(Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde); cause an increase in murders, and can be the catalyst
that turns people into werewolves.

Another rumor is that the United States never
really landed on the Moon – it was all a hoax to scare the Soviet Union into
thinking we were more powerful than we were. But then, rumors that the Nazis had a base located on the Moon lasted for
several years after WWII ended ...

Maybe
Robert Louis Stevenson summed it up best in his poem

The Moon.

The moon has a face like the
clock in the hall;
She shines on thieves on the garden wall,
On streets and fields and harbour quays,
And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.

The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,
The howling dog by the door of the house,
The bat that lies in bed at noon,
All love to be out by the light of the moon.

But all of the things that belong to the day
Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;
And flowers and children close their eyes
Till up in the morning the sun shall arise.

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

And this
year, during our Harvest moon in September, you’ll also have a chance to see it become a
Blood Moon; this is another name for a total lunar eclipse. This eclipse will
be visible in North America, South America, Europe, west Asia and
parts of Africa.

The
eclipse is scheduled to take place the evening of September 27 – September 28,
2015 and last for several hours.To find
out what time this will occur in your region, click here: Total Lunar
Eclipse, and make plans to enjoy it now!

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